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WASHINGTON -- "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- familiar to football games, military functions and Olympic medal ceremonies -- turns 200 this year and the celebrations have already begun. The Smithsonian Institution has unveiled a U.S. Post Office-issued stamp and is planning to display an original manuscript of the song, along side the actual flag that inspired it, during an exhibition beginning June 14, Flag Day. Smithsonian officials are also organizing a national anthem sing-along in which they hope hundreds of thousands of Boy Scouts, local choirs and other Americans will participate, possibly entering the Guinness Book of World Records. India holds the record for...

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WASHINGTON -- "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- familiar to football games, military functions and Olympic medal ceremonies -- turns 200 this year and the celebrations have already begun.
The Smithsonian Institution has unveiled a U.S. Post...

Renée Fleming is donating the Vera Wang gown she wore to perform the national anthem at this year's Super Bowl game to the Smithsonian in Washington. The National Museum of American History will display the gown starting June 14.
The gown...

Two questions jump out with the announcement that Ray Davies, principle songwriter for the Kinks, has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
What took so long? And how did Sting and Glenn Frey get in first?
Critical judgments aside, Davies...

Francis Scott Key is so closely identified with Ft. McHenry that the south Baltimore landmark is considered the go-to place to learn how the 15-starred American flag that flew after the fort's bombardment 200 years ago inspired him to write the poem...

Come Sunday night, director Steve McQueen's critically praised rendering of the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Antebellum South, may win the Academy Award for best picture.
So why isn't everyone...

When soprano Renée Fleming takes to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday to perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl, she will sing to music performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
But the accompaniment will be a recording,...

Steven Tyler: Steven Tyler has been taken to task by some for his performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Sunday's AFC game. But he's not alone. We asked a Juilliard expert to explain why the song is so notoriously difficult.

Super Bowl fallout: M.I.A.'s little flip of the bird upstaged not only Madonna but Kelly Clarkson as well. Both Madonna and Clarkson delivered stellar performances at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show. Yet the only thing the media seems to be focusing on today